MANILA, Philippines?The extremely poor households that benefited from the government?s conditional cash transfer (CCT) program spent their money wisely on food and on their children?s basic needs, according to Social Welfare Secretary Corazon Soliman.

The Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), which was started in 2008 under the Arroyo administration, has helped about 900,000 families with monthly cash grants of P1,400 each from the government.

The number of beneficiaries under the 4Ps project is expected to reach 2.3 million by 2011, with the help of a $400-million loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) that was approved last Thursday.

According to Soliman, the government has so far spent P12 to P15 billion of its own funds for the conditional cash transfer program.

The money was well spent on the beneficiaries, who said that it helped ease the burden of sending their children to school, Soliman said in a phone interview.

?For the really poor, the children?s education is very important,? she said.

Compliance monitored

Almost all of the families monitored complied with the conditions of the grant and used the money for the children?s basic needs such as food, education and health, she said.

?For the most part, 95 to 98 percent of them used it for their children?s education and health. The children have money for projects, they have better clothes, they are able to avail of antituberculosis shots,? Soliman explained.

The parents do not waste the money on themselves, preferring to funnel it back to their children, she said.

According to Soliman, results from the DSWD?s monitoring showed ?positive? improvements in school attendance and performance of the children in the program.

Not only do the children show up for school, they have also become more active in class, she said.

The CCT scheme, a program that is also being implemented in Brazil, Indonesia and New York to encourage families to send their children to school and break the cycle of poverty, mandates that beneficiaries follow certain health and educational obligations in exchange for the cash that they are given.

Health commitments

In the Philippine program, families that meet the health commitments will receive P500 per month.

Parents are obligated to send their children under five years of age for medical check-ups and vaccinations. Children in elementary school must go for deworming treatment at least twice a year. Parents must attend Family Development Sessions and pregnant mothers must undergo pre- and post-natal checkups.

Apart from the health incentives, an additional P300 per child per month?with a maximum of P900 per month?is given to families who ensure that their children attend at least 85 percent of school days.

Without the cash grants, many children in the poorest families would not have access to education and health care, the government and the ADB said.

According to the ADB, one in five Filipino children do not go to primary school because their parents cannot afford it. Of those who do, three in 10 eventually drop out. These children do not receive preventive health care either.

New beneficiaries

Soliman said the DSWD expects to identify nearly 600,000 new beneficiaries in the fourth quarter.

The beneficiaries were identified based on the 2006 household census conducted by the National Statistics and Census Office, she said.

Of the 9 million families identified as poor households, about 2.3 million are considered to be the poorest of the poor and will be included in the CCT scheme.

Those families that were not identified but believe that they should be included in the project may apply at the DSWD.

?If there are people who believe they should be part of the program, there is on-demand application. We will have a campaign to encourage them to register with us and then we will go to them,? Soliman said.

She said the department will be staging local events to notify potential beneficiaries of the program.

The DSWD will also do a background check on the family to see if it fulfills the poverty criteria.

Livelihood component

A Church charity meanwhile suggests that cleaning the streets and planting trees be among the conditions set for a poor household to be entitled to get the cash aid.

Fr. Anton Pascual, executive director of Caritas Manila, the social services and development arm of the Archdiocese of Manila, yesterday urged the government to add a livelihood component in the financial assistance program for a more ?holistic approach.?

?That is not enough because it is also important that parents must be involved in livelihood activities like cleaning the streets and canals in their neighborhood and planting trees, among others,? Pascual told the Church-owned Radio Veritas.

?It would be good if they also work for the P1,400 allowance that they would be getting from the government,? he added.

He stressed that providing an ?employment equivalent? in the program geared towards observing cleanliness and a fostering environment would also be to the advantage of the poor beneficiaries as they usually bear the brunt of major calamities, including flooding. With Jocelyn R. Uy